Francis Stanfield (1835–1914) was an English

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest, composer and hymnodist who worked in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster and is noted for having written and composed several hymns including ''Sweet Sacrament Divine''. He was the son of the painter

Clarkson Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (3 December 179318 May 1867) was an English painter best known for his large-scale paintings of marine art and Landscape painting, landscapes. He was the father of the painter George Clarkson Stanfield and the compo ...

Life

Stanfield was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, one of the sons of the marine painter, and friend of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

Clarkson Frederick Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (3 December 179318 May 1867) was an English painter best known for his large-scale paintings of marine art and landscapes. He was the father of the painter George Clarkson Stanfield and the composer Francis Stanfi ...

."Francis Stanfield." The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 7 Jan. 2015.. He was educated at St Edmund's College, Ware. After ordination, he was stationed in

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

. He then became principally in conducting missions and retreats. He was later priest in charge at Old Hall Green.Julian, John. ''Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement'', (1907)
/ref> Stanfield wrote over a dozen hymns for various occasions. He is noted as the author of the hymn ''Sweet Sacrament Divine'' for which he also composed the music, the tune being called "Divine Mysteries." His hymn "Hear Thy Children Gentle Jesus, While We Breathe Our Evening Prayer" uses the tune ''Drakes Broughton'' (by

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

References

1835 births 1914 deaths 19th-century English Roman Catholic priests 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests English hymnwriters 19th-century English musicians {{England-RC-clergy-stub